Bio: Noel P. Baker, Desoto Parish Louisiana
Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana
The Southern Publishing Company, Chicago & Nashville, 1890
Submitted by Gaytha Carver Thompson



**********************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
**********************************************





Noel P. Baker is the present efficient justice of the peace in Ward 8, DeSoto
parish, La., and is also engaged in tilling the soil, his plantation, which is
seven miles southwest of Mansfield consisting of 160 acres, all of which he
has obtained by his own unaided efforts. He was born in Coosa County, Ala.,
in 1848, and is a son of Joseph Cannon and Rebecca (Knight) Baker, who were
born in South Carolina in 1804 and 1807, respectively, their marriage taking
place in 1825. They first removed from their native State to Georgia and
thence to Alabama, thence, in 1866, to Soto Parish, La. Mr. Baker died here
the following year, having been a member of the Methodist Church, and his
widow, who survives him, is also a member. He was a wheelwright and
black-smith and socially was a member of the A. F. & A. M. His father,
William Baker, the grand-father of Noah P., was born in England and died in
South Carolina. Enoch Knight, the mother's father, spent his life in
Georgia and died in Alabama. 

Noel P. Baker is the tenth of eleven children, four sons and two daughters
living.. and was reared on a farm, receiving a common-school education. He
came with his parents to De Soto Parish, and was here married in 1873 to Miss
Martha B., daughter of Thomas and Dorinda Lawrence, the former of whom was
born in South Carolina and the latter in Alabama. About the year 1857 they
came to be Soto Parish, and here Mr. Lawrence passed from life in 1872, his
widow dying in 1889, she being an earnest member of the Presbyterian Church. 
He was a soldier in the Confederate army for four years. Mrs. Baker was horn
in Alabama in 1856 and her marriage with Mr. Baker has resulted in the birth
of five children, two sons and two daughters living. They have resided on
their present farm since 1874. 

Mr. Baker held the office of constable from 1879 to 1883, and since 1883 he
has been justice of the peace; is also road and bridge commissioner and was
one of the census enumerators of De Soto Parish, La., for the United States in
June, 1890. He is a Methodist and his wife is a Cumberland and Presbyterian.